Large-hearted man helps other transplantees overcome fear

Margaret Fisher

Tuesday

Sep 25, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2012 at 9:37 PM

Raymond Jackson Jr. knows what it’s like to be afraid to go to sleep fearing he might not wake up. He knows how it feels to head into surgery and to wonder if the doctor will be the last face he ever sees.

Raymond Jackson Jr. knows what it’s like to be afraid to go to sleep fearing he might not wake up. He knows how it feels to head into surgery and to wonder if the doctor will be the last face he ever sees.

At the age of 38, Jackson underwent a heart transplant in August after seven years of challenges from a bad heart. He’s not only recovering well, but he’s made it his life’s goal to help others going through similar ordeals.

A native of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Jackson had a typical childhood growing up in Kinston.

“I’ve been healthy all my life,” he said of his early years.

He joined the Army and served three years until 2003 when he began to have problems with his knees.

In 2005, his doctor told him he had hypertension. He didn’t realize what it really meant. He thought it had to do with stress and smoking, and it wasn’t a big deal because the doctor didn’t prescribe any medication for it.

About that time, his ex-wife took their 2-year-old daughter, Rziya, and moved to Tennessee. So he began traveling back and forth to see his daughter, relying on high-caffeine energy drinks to keep awake.

“I started realizing I had trouble laying down,” he said. “I started choking so I would sit up.”

Thinking he had a bad cold, he began taking cold medication — without knowing that it raises blood pressure. All the while, he was still smoking and the choking sensation became worse.

He went to get checked at Lenoir Memorial Hospital and they ran some tests.

“When (the results) came back, they told me I had congestive heart failure,” he said.

He immediately went into denial.

“I told the doctor, ‘Let me go home and I will be right back,’ ” he said. “I had no intentions of coming back.”

The doctor told him if he went home, he might die. From the time he was told he had hypertension to the time he was told he could die was about a month.

Jackson was transferred to the Veterans Administration hospital in Durham where staff worked to remove the fluid in his lungs and reduce his blood pressure for the next two weeks.

“I came home and had to figure out how I was going to keep going knowing I could die at any time,” he said.

His parents, Raymond and Loraine Jackson Sr., as well as other family members, were supportive. His mother told him to take the medication and try not to worry about it.

Jackson began to change his eating and cooking habits — he switched to heart-healthy foods, cut way back on salt and fried foods, read food labels and baked or boiled foods. He also quit smoking and drinking.

“My faith is pretty strong in God and that’s what helped me handle it,” he said.

The next year, he got custody of his daughter and his life seemed to be looking up.

Then it took another turn as fluid began building up again in his heart. His stomach became bloated, his calves and thighs were about the same circumference and he lost muscle mass. He had so little energy, he couldn’t pick Rziya up from school.

He went back to Durham periodically to have the fluid drained.

“I would try to stay in good spirits because of my daughter,” he said.

In 2007, Jackson heard about an LVAD (left ventricular assistance device), which serves as a heart pump for the left ventricle. He said doctors couldn’t tell him if he would live five days or five months. The LVAD was the bridge to continue living until he could have a heart transplant.

He underwent surgery in the VA hospital in Richmond, Va., in May 2009 to have the device inserted in his chest. It was bulky and awkward, but it kept him alive.

During the surgery, the doctors discovered a hole on the right side of his heart; no one had ever detected the defect before. They closed up the hole with stitches. He remained in the hospital and then at a hospice center for five weeks surrounded by his family members and girlfriend.

“I had a pretty good support system to guide me through it,” he said.

Jackson was placed on a waiting list that year to receive a heart transplant. It wouldn’t be an easy find because he needed a large heart because of his large body build.

“I felt good,” he said. “I had never thought I’d feel that good again.”

At one point, his device malfunctioned and he received an electric shock. Then he lived in fear it might happen again.

“My dad said having fear means you’re losing faith. It helped me out a whole lot,” he said.

During numerous checkups in Richmond, he would see people in much worse shape than himself, and he developed a positive attitude. When he’d see others who were scared like he had been, he said he would encourage them and explain the procedure to help alleviate their fears. It was just what one man had done for him, he said.

He went to the Wellness Center at LMH and got into better shape. He kept asking his doctors in Richmond when he would get a new heart.

When that day came Aug. 6, he received a phone call from Richmond at 8 a.m. They had a heart from a 26-year-old man. The news brought him to tears. The medical center arranged a flight that day and performed the surgery at midnight.

Jackson said he was smiling before they put him out and he woke up smiling.

“I was up four days later and I’ve been walking every since,” he said.

He continues to use his experience to help others by volunteering at the hospital. He tells others it could be much worse.

“I touch a lot of people just telling people about what I’ve been through (and by) my attitude,” he said.

Lisa Alphin, program director for cardiac rehab at LMH, said, “This guy has the best spirit about him. If you saw him on the street, you wouldn’t know this happened to him.”

His mother said she prayed quite a bit and thanks God for bringing him through the challenges.

Jackson is waiting for the OK to go back to working out at the Wellness Center.

“I’m alive,” he said, “and I have a lot to be happy about.”

Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or at Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com.

Breakout box:

The Mayo Clinic recommends 10 ways to reduce blood pressure:

Source: mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/HI00027

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